Softball yes, baseball no. Don't have Olympic sports where countries don't even send anything close to their best players. It completely contradicts what the Olympics should be about. That means that men's soccer has to go too.

Softball yes, baseball no. Don't have Olympic sports where countries don't even send anything close to their best players. It completely contradicts what the Olympics should be about. That means that men's soccer has to go too.

Those attitudes are changing. (See basketball and tennis). People realize that being on the largest stage in the world as an "amateur" is more lucrative than sitting on your ass and waiting for the next paycheck.

I was looking up a different, more complete list earlier this week. The other event tht I would love to see is Swimming obstacle course (which included running over row boats, apparently). Also, rope climb.

Some other odd ball ones:Kabibi (quite a few youtube video of this game exist. Its sort of a tackle version red rover)Plunge For DepthDeep Breath Underwater For Score

Live pidgeon shooting was only done once, because the field became too messy covered with the corpses of 300 dead pidgeons.

Softball yes, baseball no. Don't have Olympic sports where countries don't even send anything close to their best players. It completely contradicts what the Olympics should be about. That means that men's soccer has to go too.

Those attitudes are changing. (See basketball and tennis). People realize that being on the largest stage in the world as an "amateur" is more lucrative than sitting on your ass and waiting for the next paycheck.

Yeah, but the basketball season ends before the Olympics start, whereas the baseball season doesn't.

Arkanaut:brap: Krazikarl: Mentat: They should have kept softball and baseball.

Softball yes, baseball no. Don't have Olympic sports where countries don't even send anything close to their best players. It completely contradicts what the Olympics should be about. That means that men's soccer has to go too.

Those attitudes are changing. (See basketball and tennis). People realize that being on the largest stage in the world as an "amateur" is more lucrative than sitting on your ass and waiting for the next paycheck.

Yeah, but the basketball season ends before the Olympics start, whereas the baseball season doesn't.

Well then, MLB seems to be anii-American. Next thing you know mother and apple pie will be applying for visas to COMMUNIST OTHERPLACES!

No, actually the Olympics are anti-American. It's founded by a French aristocrat and run by aristocrats and oil sheiks. They come to a city, overrule its democratic institutions, and rule it with an iron fist for weeks. It's our American duty to defeat them wherever we can.

The Olympics happen right in the heart of the MLB season, and the league is absolutely under no circumstances whatsoever shutting down for the Olympics. It wouldn't be a USA win fest all the time either, it would probably play out significantly more like Hockey does, where you find out that you were wrong in your presumptions and yell "Hey, they play in the US, I thought they was Merikans!"

Well just consider in the old days, before professionals were allowed, no country could send their actual best, just their best amateurs. And players from countries like France, Brazil etc though they may not yet be 23 are already considered among the elite players in the game, not just in their own countries, but in the world.

Foolkiller:On another note if Alpinism was played in 2 Olympics and 1932 was the first how can they not know the second?

It was never an Olympic competition, rather it was an Olympic recognition of achievement in mountain climbing.

There are 10 test cricket "nations" - one of which is made up of 10 different countries itself. If you opened it up as an Olympic event and expected even a fraction of the 204 Olympic nations to compete, the preliminary matches would have to start the day after the closing ceremonies for one Summer Olympics just so they could be down to the semifinals for the start of the next Summer Olympics. And that One Day shiat is not cricket - it's a poor mans baseball for non-Americans.

Okay, see there is a difference between an "activity" and a "sport". One defining difference is that if some pot-bellied used car salesman from Waukegan can easily participate, it falls into "activity". Though watching the pre-match preparatory shiat-facing for darts might be mildly amusing.

No, getting rid of those "sports" was a wise decision. Bring back rugby, which has a bigger global fan base than softball/baseball ever will.

Global fan base = sports that European countries have a chance to win a medal. In Asia, Latin and South America baseball is right behind soccer and ahead of basketball in popularity. It also is huge in Italy and the Netherlands. Baseball was dropped mainly to spite the U.S, and there were a lot of countries pissed about it being dropped.

Olympics should be the pinnacle of a sport. If it isn't then it shouldn't be there. I'm sure Andy Murray is happy with his gold but would he have preferred to have won Wimbledon? Football (mens) , basketball, tennis along with a few others should all go. Otherwise the more traditional events will eventually be removed to appease those sports with more advertising money behind them.

Please name an international tournament in basketball that is more important than the Olympics. Maybe then you will realize how silly it is to compare soccer and tennis with basketball. Until FIBA can elevate the World Championship of basketball over the Olympics (like the World Cup in soccer and the grand slams in tennis), I see no reason to take out the best basketball players from the Olympics. The pinnacle of international basketball right now is the Olympics, so your premise is baseless.

mattwakeman:Olympics should be the pinnacle of a sport. If it isn't then it shouldn't be there. I'm sure Andy Murray is happy with his gold but would he have preferred to have won Wimbledon? Football (mens) , basketball, tennis along with a few others should all go. Otherwise the more traditional events will eventually be removed to appease those sports with more advertising money behind them.

The Caribbean alone could field several good teams. Cuba, Porto Rico and DR all would have a chance at the gold.

"The playing area shall be a minimum of 150 yards (137.16 metres) from boundary to boundary square of the pitch, with the shorter of the two square boundaries being a minimum 65 yards (59.43 metres). The straight boundary at both ends of the pitch shall be a minimum of 70 yards (64.00 metres). Distances shall be measured from the centre of the pitch to be used. In all cases the aim shall be to provide the largest playing area, subject to no boundary exceeding 90 yards (82.29 meters) from the centre of the pitch to be used."

Cricket can be pretty exciting to watch if you understand what is going on...I spent some time in Dubai last year, and the bartender at the hotel where I stayed was a huge cricket fan and it was always on in the bar. I got to understand it pretty well watching with him, but I have since forgotten it.

Arkanaut:brap: Krazikarl: Mentat: They should have kept softball and baseball.

Softball yes, baseball no. Don't have Olympic sports where countries don't even send anything close to their best players. It completely contradicts what the Olympics should be about. That means that men's soccer has to go too.

Those attitudes are changing. (See basketball and tennis). People realize that being on the largest stage in the world as an "amateur" is more lucrative than sitting on your ass and waiting for the next paycheck.

Yeah, but the basketball season ends before the Olympics start, whereas the baseball season doesn't.

ok then baseball can take 2 weeks off every 4 years for the Olympics just like the NHL does for the Winter Olympics.